Test drive - Mercedes A-Class

DRIVING a Mercedes for the first time feels like joining a special club. Only those who have sat behind the wheel can know how luxurious it feels to drive one. And now, I have had a glimpse. Lucky, lucky me.

This is such a treat to drive. It is so good that instead of pulling to the side of the road to make notes, as is usually the case, I keep finding excuses to just keep going. I'll make some notes in a minute, I tell myself as the Merc effortlessly rounds another corner.

This is the new Mercedes A-Class and I now know why Janis Joplin sang 'O Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz'.

The A-Class has bucketfuls of brains and beauty and a whole host of standard equipment plus optional extras.

There are five different model lines, from the A180 and SE to the Sport, AMG Sport and a model engineered by AMG.

The model being tested is an SE, which comes with metallic paint and leather interior and various other options. Extras on this one include a CD player, wing mirrors that fold in automatically when the car is locked and a series of safety systems. These include electronic aids such as the collision prevention assist, which is a warning system that sounds if the Merc gets too close to the car in front.

It even has something called attention assist, which is a kind of built-in guardian angel that will give the driver a nudge in situations where their attention may have lapsed. There are 70 sensors placed in the car interior around the driver which assess their behaviour.

If the car senses that the driver is tired, a coffee cup icon lights up on the dashboard. The light goes off only when the car has been switched off for at least 30 minutes.

There is adaptive brake assist, which combines anti-lock braking with the electronic stability programme to make driving even safer. By drying the brakes in the wet and then automatically priming them, it gives a speedier response and shorter stopping distances.

There is also hill start assist, which stops the car rolling backwards on a slope.

The optional intelligent lights system has several modes to deal with a range of scenarios from country to motorway driving and even a high beam assist which automatically dips the headlights if it detects an oncoming vehicle.

So the A-Class has plenty of interesting and innovative features to delight a driver, but how does it drive?

Well. It's a lot of fun. I mean, a lot. The model tested was a diesel but there was no acceleration timelag. The pick-up is excellent. The handling is excellent.

It has a teeny turning circle and you can just tell that if it was let off the leash it would leave you breathless.

This is thanks in part to Mercedes' latest engine technology. The new four cylinder diesels are cleaner, more powerful and can give greater fuel efficiency – and lower CO2 emissions.

And it's a similar story for petrol engines too, which is down to a combination of direct petrol injection, variable valve timing and turbo charging.

The drive is precise and luxurious and oh, so much fun. It was a privilege to be part of the Mercedes drivers' club, even for a short while.